Story by Jeff Potter Photos by Rahav

MODERN DRUMMER • January 2011 hould you step into Michael law, Michael approaches each of his f Carvin hadn’t been nurtured Carvin’s drum studio for a lesson, students in such a way as to help them in music, he surely would have suc- Sbe prepared to stand on your own find who they are. He is truly one of the Iceeded as a motivational speaker. two feet. There’s heat in this kitchen. great minds of our times.” His animated verbal discourses are Carvin does not ask that you arrive as a But when things do get hairy in that Muhammad Ali meets Tony Robbins technique savant. He does not ask that studio, beware. Carvin has witnessed meets boot-camp drill sergeant. you hike the Himalayas to receive his “grown men” scramble for the exit in “Teachers come to teach, not to hold wisdom. But if he accepts a student, he tears. From the moment a student hands,” he says. “I tell my students, ‘I does ask one thing. “I want them to enters, the teacher scrutinizes any would rather you hate me and be suc- cessful than love me and be a failure.’ Through discipline comes freedom. I believe in that, man.” Discipline has rewarded Carvin with a playing style of precision chops fueled by spontaneity and a bold, earthy sound. Outspoken and provoca- tive, Michael speaks with sudden shifts between severity and sentimentality, elation and gravity. He cuts a strong presence, as an impassioned man who’s forged his own path through great self-determination. And he’d love to help you do it too. The master’s colorful sermons of rhythm are peppered with memorable catchphrases and pearls of wisdom. One saying in particular stands as his defining motto. “‘Each one, teach one’ is something I’ve always believed in,” Carvin says. “In the African tradition we have storytellers. There’s a man in the tribe that passes on knowledge. And there’s always one young man that the master recognizes will be the next sto- ryteller. He will take that young man and teach him everything that he knows about the history of the tribe. know what they want,” he says, allow- chinks in confidence. “I say, ‘Play That’s ‘Each one, teach one.’ As a drum ing a long pause. “I can’t teach you how something that you like,’” Michael teacher, I am a ‘master.’ If I have to play drums. But I’ll introduce you to explains, “And he’ll say, ‘What do you accepted a student, I tell him, ‘Every yourself. And once I introduce you to want to hear?’ I’ll say, ‘What did I just time you walk through that door, yourself, you can make all your dreams tell you?’ He automatically shuts down! you’re telling me one thing: “Carvin, come true.” Because it’s that first sign of discipline. I’m putting my fate in your hands.”’ For those who survive the heat, the I didn’t be his ‘friend.’ I shut him down. And by you trusting me to put the fate results are undeniable, as proven by the And I do it on purpose. Now he’s begin- of your music career in my hands, it is long roster of Carvin alumni who are ning to…lose…it. I’m not trying to be my duty and honor to teach you every- now notables in the world, many of his buddy or be a ‘nice guy.’ A ‘nice thing I know.” them praising their mentor with devo- guy’ is a con man. tional zeal. One such star “Then I say to him, ‘What is your THE JOURNEY student is MD Pro Panel member dream in life?’ His mind is frozen now, Since the 1960s, Carvin has covered a Allison Miller. “ is a and I tell him, ‘Every dream I’ve had in sweeping arc of styles, which has led to force!” she says. “He changed my whole my life has come true.’ And that’s the recognition among a long list of jazz philosophy behind the kit.” truth. This is America, man. At this heavies and a productive career as a And Eric McPherson’s take: “For me, point he doesn’t know what’s happen- leader. Also a tireless crusader champi- Michael’s influence transcended art. ing to him. But that’s the same thing oning the drumkit as a total melodic His influence was greatest on my life as that happens when a guy counts a instrument, he has explored solo per- a whole. While most teachers impose tempo off. You have to make a decision, formances in addition to his ensemble their personal approach on students as right or wrong.” work, as captured on 1996’s Drum

Reprinted by permission of Modern Drummer Publications, Inc. © 2011 www.moderndrummer.com RECORDINGS Michael Carvin Lost And Found Project 2065, Marsalis Music Honors Series, Each One Teach One, Revelation, Between Me And You, First Time, Drum Concerto At Dawn /// Jackie McLean & Michael Carvin Antiquity /// Michael Carvin & Andrew Cyrille Weights And Measures

FAVORITES Cannonball Adderley Nancy Wilson/Cannonball Adderley (Louis Hayes) /// & A Night In Tunisia (Art Blakey) /// Les McCann & Eddie Harris Swiss Movement (Donald Dean) /// Oliver Nelson The Blues And The Abstract Truth (Roy Haynes) /// Horace Silver The Tokyo Blues (Joe Harris, credited as John Harris Jr.) /// Jimmy Smith Back At The Chicken Shack (Donald Bailey) /// Jimmy Smith Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (uncredited, but most likely Donald Bailey) /// Albert Collins Frostbite (Casey Jones) /// Koko Taylor The Earthshaker (Vince Chappelle) /// Johnny Copeland Texas Twister (Candy McDonald, Julian Vaughan, Jimmy Wormworth)

into it [points to his heart], because I oned. Growing restless, Carvin said so could already play 8th notes and back- long to security as well as the limiting beat at eight years old. But to really anonymity of studio work. He hun- Concerto At Dawn. feel it… I always had fast hands, but I kered down in San Francisco for a hia- As his passion for teaching evolved, learned other things at . I sat tus of shedding (“I was working on Carvin bloomed into one of New York and sat in that pocket.” Michael Carvin”) and built connec- City’s most revered drum gurus. He Remembering those grooving ses- tions. With a growing rep, he made the dismisses the label jazz, but he’s sions, Carvin recalls a subliminal pres- move to New York and was quickly earned that right. To those who insist ence in the Motown tracks: a person ushered around the jazz world’s inner on defining a “swing” feel, Carvin stomping quarter notes from the cor- circle. snapped up responds, “I don’t see ‘rock’ or ‘jazz.’ ner of the studio. Responding to a sug- the fledgling, after which Carvin did an It’s a beat! Check it out—it’s a beat.” gestion that it provided a “felt click inspirational stint with alto sax great The man becomes breathless while track,” Carvin shrugs. “To me it’s Jackie McLean. The new drummer in discussing the sprawling family of just a guy stomping on floorboards.” town eventually amassed a heavy rhythm, whether it be bands, track That response harks back to his youth. résumé, over the years gigging and stars, the Russian Ballet, Times Square As a boy, Carvin asked his dad for a recording with such luminaries as bucket players, John Philip Sousa, or metronome. “But,” he says with a , , double-Dutch rope jumpers. laugh, “my father said, ‘Why do you , , Illinois “The beat” has been Carvin’s guid- think I bought you a bass drum?’ Then Jacquet, , McCoy ing star ever since his father taught my father explained, ‘If you’re practic- Tyner, Ben Webster, , him drums, starting when Michael was ing to a metronome as a drummer, Jimmy Smith, Gerry Mulligan, Cecil five. He still thrills about his drum- you’re listening to another drummer Taylor, , James Moody, captain days in high school: “We to keep time for you, so you will never Hugh Masekela, , Larry marched with 110 bodies that I moved learn the responsibility of keeping time.’ Young, , , up and down the football field, taking Once you build a man’s confidence, he and Abbey Lincoln, among others. the command of their left and right can rule the rest of the music. If you McLean’s gig offered Carvin a rare feet from me. That’s power!” break his confidence, he will surrender creative soul-mate partnership. “I Coming of age in Houston, Carvin to everything.” didn’t get a glimpse of Michael Carvin learned to lay down mean Texas blues Perpetuating that philosophy in his until I joined Jackie,” the drummer shuffles with local bands. In 1963, the teaching today, Carvin neither utilizes says. “I didn’t have a clue. Jackie go-getter stepped up to a successful nor endorses the tool. “There’s nothing immediately let me have freedom. He decade in L.A.’s recording and TV stu- wrong with this metronome,” he says, was the only leader I worked with that dios, interrupted by a ’65–’67 tour of pointing to his heart. “Great drummers would move aside to the edge of the duty in Vietnam. A stretch on the are responsible to the music. There’s a bandstand when he finished his solo. Motown staff in ’68 and ’69 further thin line. Of course you can’t have bad He came out of that jazz family that strengthened his musical muscle. time where a tempo starts here and would allow the young guys to emerge: “What I really learned there was ends like a fighter jet taking off. But ‘Who are you? Don’t look at me—who sophistication,” Carvin says. “Also, none of us keep perfect time. I don’t are you? Let the world know it!’” how long can you play that same keep perfect time—not playing with Following a robust gigging schedule tempo? That’s the discipline. I used human beings. There’s emotion there. and McLean’s LP, to tell myself, ‘I’m going to play the Play…the…music.” Carvin prodded the saxist to chance a sweetest backbeat that anybody ever Despite the drummer’s success in risky leap. The result, Antiquity (1975), heard.’ I also had to put something else Los Angeles, a passion for jazz beck- was a bold and haunting sax/drums Reprinted by permission of Modern Drummer Publications, Inc. © 2011 www.moderndrummer.com

MODERN DRUMMER • January 2011 MICHAEL CARVIN

duet that marked a creative dividing to work as a sideman, to be able to approaching it as a lesson or a serious line in McLean’s career. “I played very read, play the book, make money, and thing or a chore.” ahead of the beat,” Carvin says, “and I pay the bills. Now that I’m financially The increasing elusiveness of that have a broad sound. Jackie had a free, I’m beginning to feel my five- rare state of mind allowing for open- razor-sharp sound, and he plays ahead year-old music that I never finished, ness, inner awareness, and childlike of the beat. So I knew we’d have a that I cut off at thirteen to become a imagination is a frequent theme for blend, because he could cut through professional drummer.” Carvin. The scourge of junk food, junk my thickness. After that, Jackie never media, and the mental clutter caused made just another bebop record.” METHODS OF THE MASTER by the constant bombardment of tech- When the time finally came to move on Just as Carvin sees the beat as a unify- nology is a recurring topic as well. from McLean’s band, Carvin made a ing thread between musical styles and “When you didn’t have everything that heartfelt prophetic promise to his cultures, education is also an endless you do today,” he says, “there were comrade: “Jackie, one day I’m going to blood-filled artery. “I’m not teaching times when you were bored. And those send you a drummer with my spirit.” any of these students,” he says. “This is were the days when you dreamed. You “My second musical marriage was my father. My father loved me. I am his had time to be bored, and that’s when with Pharoah Sanders,” Carvin says. child. He was my drum teacher. He you came to yourself. That’s why you “What I got from Pharoah was the abil- didn’t teach me [in order] to pay his play the drums different. That’s why ity to travel through music spiritually.” light bills…he taught me because he you think different. You had a chance Recalling his third “marriage,” Carvin loved me. You see the difference? I to meet yourself.” speaks in a hushed voice. “That was don’t teach to pay my bills. I taught But in addition to spiritual, philo- John Birks Gillespie, aka Dizzy. He Eric McPherson since he was eleven sophical, and mental elements, Carvin really showed me that less is more. years old. I taught him for free, got him preaches a healthy dose of bedrock fun- John taught me my innovative skills. through high school, even bought damentals and time-honored hard He loved drummers. He was the ‘Each clothes for him and everything….” work. “Do you remember how painful it one, teach one’ of his tribe—the tribe Carvin breaks off, and his eyes are sud- was to learn how to tie your shoes? A of bebop.” Carvin recalls the exact date denly wet. He pauses and grabs a person could wake you up right now at when, walking back from a gig, Dizzy handkerchief. four in the morning, and you could tie turned to him and said, “You are one When Carvin coaxes students to let your shoes in the dark. Why? Because of the only drummers in my band their inner drummer emerge, his your parents had you sit there until you since Kenny Clarke that I feel can play methods can be surprisingly laissez- got it right. They knew it was something anything that I can think of.” faire. “Everybody has different finger- you would have to be able to do. That’s Among the hundreds of recordings prints,” he says. “What does that tell how I teach. If you can tie your shoes, Carvin has graced, Marsalis Music me? I’m special. Now, the way I teach you can conquer the world.” Honors Michael Carvin is a 2006 my young great drummers: I don’t play One “shoe tying” fundamental this release he led that holds a special place at a lesson. I never played in a drum teacher insists on is mastery of the in his heart. The album features his lesson. If I had a teacher that I paid rudiments. “The twenty-six rudiments of “the songs that made who played in a lesson, I’d beat his are the same as the twenty-six letters me fall in love with jazz.” Yet, when brains out. I’m paying him to get bet- of the alphabet to a writer,” Carvin asked to recall which career perfor- ter? Come on, man! Even playing to says. “Without them, you couldn’t mances remain his most memorable, demonstrate is just mimicking! That’s write a sentence. If a drummer doesn’t Carvin quickly responds, “None of ’em. like you’re raisin’ a dog! A human have some working knowledge of the That was then; this is now. I haven’t being has his own ability to think, twenty-six rudiments, there’s nothing I played my best performance yet. Even with his own voice. All I have to do can teach him.” Lost And Found Project 2065 just came with young great drummers is get out, but it’s finished.” them to really understand that they’re IN THE BEGINNING That recent release, Carvin’s twelfth already somebody and they already IS SILENCE, AND DESIRE as a leader, features a piano-less trio in have a sound.” When presenting solo drum perfor- a one-take, free-form outing powered Carvin seeks to stir the imagination mances, Carvin is keenly aware of the by intense sonic waves from Carvin’s as well as the hands. After asking stu- challenges in holding an audience’s kit. The title refers to the artist’s ongo- dents to play a ride beat, he’ll nudge attention. He’s exacting in his choice ing journey. “I’ve just started playing them further. “I tell them this: ‘What of lights and dress to create a special the way I was playing between the ages makes you laugh? Think of something moment, to tell a story. Before the first of five and thirteen,” Michael says, funny that just cracks you up. Now note is played, he sustains a long medi- “because that’s what I lost. What I play that same cymbal beat and tative silence. “I have to take the drum found from thirteen to sixty-five was have that thought of fun.’ It will part away from the audience and how to be a great drummer, to be able change. Because now they’re not put focus on the human spirit,” he

Reprinted by permission of Modern Drummer Publications, Inc. © 2011 www.moderndrummer.com MODERN DRUMMER • January 2011 MICHAEL CARVIN

explains, “and the first sound from the step on the bandstand as a sideman, wee hours for beloved rounds of golf. drums has to be on such a pianissimo it’s not the bandleader or the guys in In 2006, his comrade Jackie McLean level that it forces them to listen to me. the band that will drive them to their passed. For the previous fifteen years, I find most drummers play with this greatness. It’s the inner desire, the McLean had been performing with an attitude: Listen to me! But I play drums burning in their heart to be a great per- outstanding drummer he found via with the attitude: I don’t want you to son. You see, a drumset is only an Carvin’s recommendation. His name listen to me—I want you to listen to instrument. But a person is a human is Eric McPherson. yourself. If I take my dynamic under- being. So the person has to be great, Luckily, Carvin’s restless heels are neath what they were anticipating, I and then the music can be great. now being followed by a documentary got the ear, man. And once I get the Before a student leaves me, we pick a film team. The crew can’t truly capture ear, I will slowly take them on my jour- group that they say they want to join, it all, though. Ideally, to be Carvin’s ney. See, little by little makes big. Big and I show them how to get that gig. proper storyteller, the cameras would by big makes failure. And I have not missed in thirty-seven have to follow many students, over “The reason why Michael Carvin years. I tell my students, ‘You will pay many years, through many genera- students are successful in the work- me back, but not in money. The way tions, playing “a beat” all over the place,” he continues, “is because they you will pay me back is when you see globe and eventually finding fledglings usually spend four to five years with “yourself” come in—you teach ’em.’ of their own. Each one, teach one. me. As they continue to study with me, Each one, teach one.” I keep asking that same question until At a very young sixty-six, Carvin Learn more about Carvin’s projects they answer it: ‘What is the burning continues his active teaching schedule, and recordings at michaelcarvin.com. desire in your heart? What drives you?’ practices, performs, lives his music Michael welcomes communication Once they answer it, that will make and music philosophies, produces with drummers through them successful. When my students records, and makes time to rise in the [email protected].

Reprinted by permission of Modern Drummer Publications, Inc. © 2011 www.moderndrummer.com

MODERN DRUMMER • January 2011 MICHAEL CARVIN

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